


The Three

by redeem147



Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-15
Updated: 2011-08-15
Packaged: 2017-10-22 15:45:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/239698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redeem147/pseuds/redeem147
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Xander arrives at Wolfram and Hart with a surprise.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Three

The receptionist on the ground level had told him to go on up; he was expected. He shifted nervously all the way to the eighteenth floor. Everything inside him told him to hit the button and head back down. The door opened with a ‘ding’ and he stepped into the lobby. Pretty damn luxurious. He waited by the receptionist’s desk but no one was there. Curiously, he peeked through an office door, and there he was. The big boss himself. In the middle of an argument with, of course, Spike. He rapped against the side of the doorpost. “Angel?”

The vampire turned and smiled. “Xander. I heard you were coming.”

“Harris?” Spike stepped towards him. “Good to see a familiar face, even if it is your ugly mug.”

The other men stopped as they looked at the pack hanging across his chest. “Is that ...?” Angel started to ask.

“Yeah.” Xander pulled down the zipper a bit and rubbed his hand gently against the tiny head. “This is my son. Dylan.”

The baby made a cooing sound, then settled back to sleep.

*****

Dylan lay sleeping on a blanket on the apartment living room floor. Spike and Xander sat on Angel’s couch, nursing beers, while Angel took the easy chair. They’d dropped into an uncomfortable silence.

“Enough chit chat,” Spike interjected. “Where the hell did you get a son? Did demon girl...?”

“I guess nobody told you.” Xander wrapped his fingers tighter around the neck of the bottle. “Anya died. That day at the High School.”

“Oh, god, mate. Sorry. I didn’t...”

“Anya?” Angel asked.

“My fiancee... girlfriend... friend. I think you met her at the prom.” Angel shrugged. “Well, there was a lot going on that night. She wasn’t at graduation.” He took a swig of the beer. “She was scared. Left town. But she came through in the end. Fought the good fight.” He sat the beer on the coffee table. “Didn’t really come to talk about her.”

Xander saw that Angel’s eyes kept straying to the baby. He smiled. “Quite the little guy, isn’t he?”

“He’s beautiful.”

“Yeah, right. Great little nipper.” Spike peeled at the label of his beer. “So, Harris. Where did he come from? African slayer? Babies R Us?”

“She was so upset when she finally found out you were alive. So to speak. It was too late by then, she thought. You wouldn’t understand. Neither of you would understand. She’d pushed me away too, all the way to Africa. But I was with her, when it counted most. I have to believe that.”

A chill ran through Angel. “What are you saying, Xander?”

“Dylan’s Buffy’s. Buffy’s and mine.”

Spike’s jaw clenched. “That’s a bloody lie.”

Angel’s eyes grew distant. He knew. “Buffy’s dead.”

The bottle shattered in Spike’s hand.

*****

Spike stood near the doorway to the kitchen, barely registering what was being said. Red stained the handkerchief Angel had wrapped around the wound.

Angel sat, staring at the baby.

“She was still weak. It had been a difficult delivery. I guess... I guess Slayers aren’t built for it. She went out too soon. It was some big horned demony thing, I don’t know the name. She killed it, but not before... It rammed a horn right through her. An ordinary person would have died right away. But she made it home. Had to see Dylan again.” He fought against the tears. She wanted the story told.

“She asked me to bring the baby here, to LA. She said, she said she wanted the three men she loved to raise him together. You guys probably think that’s crazy, but I brought him, because it’s what she wanted.

And don’t think I like the idea of having my son grow up with you two. But it’s what she wanted. I owe her that.” His voice broke. “I loved her so much.”

Spike was on him in an instant, yanking him off the couch by the front of his shirt, teeth bared. “How?”

The sudden movement, the angry voice, disturbed the child on the blanket and he started to cry. Within seconds he was wailing.

Spike ignored the screams. “How?”

“Spike,” Angel said softly, putting his hand on the other vampire’s shoulder. “Let him go. His son is crying.”

Spike let go, his jaw still set, forehead still ridged. He glared at the young man.

Xander slid away from Spike, eyes keeping to the vampire and picked up the diaper bag. “He probably needs a change.

Angel held out his hand. “Let me.”

Xander held tight to the bag. “You don’t have to...”

“It’s okay,” Angel replied. “I’ve done it before.” He took the bag from Xander’s hand and knelt down, placing his hand gently on the baby’s head. “Hey, little guy,” he said softly, “Need some help?” Dylan stopped crying as Angel carefully unsnapped his jumper and dug through the bag for a diaper. “You have any baby powder?” he asked Xander. “Some of those wipe cloths?”

“Yeah.” Xander watched him with surprise. “In the side pocket.”

“Thanks.”

Spike shifted back to human face, but kept his intent gaze on Xander. “I asked you how this happened. Buffy would never let you touch her.”

“Oh, I’m not good enough but you are?” Xander’s hands clenched in anger. “We touched. We touched just fine.”

Spike lunged at him again, but Angel was quicker. In a flash he was between the two of them. “Talk this out. Don’t fight it out. Not in front of the baby. Both of you. In the bedroom. Now.”

Spike stalked into the other room, Xander behind him.

“And don’t kill each other,” Angel added. “I just had the room cleaned.” He picked up the now clean baby and held him to his chest. “Hey, little guy,” he said, smiling. “Want to watch some hockey on TV?”

*****

“It’s not what you...”

Spike spun on Xander, cutting off his sentence. Trying not to listen. “You always wanted her, didn’t you? That’s why you bailed on Anya. Figured you’d never get to nail her if you were married. I should...”

“You should what?” Xander’s anger overwhelmed any sense he of danger he might feel. “I loved Anya. I always loved Anya. What happened between us had nothing to do with Buffy.” He jabbed his forefinger into Spike’s chest. “Nothing!”

Spike growled, low in the throat. Xander took a step back. “Oh, don’t worry, little boy. I’m not going to rip out your throat. Not all over Angel’s pretty carpet. But you do think it odd, don’t you, that your bird was barely cold when you had your prick up Buffy’s...”

“Stop it! Just stop it!” Xander’s fists were clenched tight in frustration. “I’m trying to explain. Making me mad isn’t helping.”

“Making you mad.”

“Listen to me, Spike. You don’t know how she was, after you... after she lost you. She loved you, you idiot! She thought she’d killed you. She was in so much pain. And I... God, I’d lost Anya, just when I had a little hope that maybe it wasn’t over.”

“Oh, I see.” Spike put two defiant hands on his hips. “You were so griefstricken, both of you, that you started dating. Bollocks.”

“Sex. We were so griefstricken that we had sex. To comfort each other. To feel alive. Because I loved Anya and she loved you, and you were both gone. And it hurt too damn much.”

Spike raised a fist, pulling it back. But before he could connect he looked into Xander’s eyes. His arm dropped, and he dropped to the bed. Head in his hands, he started to weep. Xander sat beside him, his arm around Spike’s shoulder, as the vampire sobbed. “Buffy,” was all he could say.

“I know,” Xander said, his own eyes filling with tears. “I know.”

*****

Xander hoped that they’d come to some sort of breakthrough. Not because of them, but because of what Buffy had wanted. That if somehow they could make this arrangement work, she could rest.

Xander had left Spike alone to grieve in private. He wiped his eyes before leaving. Dylan might be a baby, but he didn’t need to watch his father fall apart. Not again.

Angel was sitting on the sofa, the baby in his arms. Dylan was happily sucking on a bottle of formula. “I hope you don’t mind,” he said to Xander. “He seemed hungry. How’s Spike?”

“Pretty much a mess.” Xander smiled at the contented pair. “You seem like you know what you’re doing. You said you’d done this before? When? You work at the Wolfram and Hart nursery?”

“That’s funny.” Angel didn’t smile. “If this place had a nursery, it would probably be to raise human sacrifices.” He threw a receiving blanket over his shoulder and hoisted Dylan for a burp. “We can’t keep him here. This is no place for him.” He rubbed the baby gently on the back.

“I figured that. So, the question is, where? Buffy wanted the three of us to raise him together, kooky as that may sound. I know you have responsibilities...”

“I have a place.” Burp received, he held the baby in front of him, studying him. “God. He looks so much like her. I have a hotel, near here. You can stay there, with Spike if he wants. I have to stay here for the time being, but as soon as I can be rid of this place once and for all, I will be.”

Xander reached for the baby, and Angel reluctantly surrendered him. “Sounds like a plan.”

Spike wandered out of the bedroom. “See you’re still here.”

“Feel better?” Xander asked.

“Hell, no.” He glanced at the baby, then turned away. “I understand what happened, I think. I don’t like it, hate it actually, but I think I understand.” He walked over to Angel’s wetbar and poured himself a healthy blend of blood and whiskey, downing it in one gulp. “I can’t do this.”

“Spike, I know this is a lot to ask...” Xander started.

“I can’t. But I will. For her.”


End file.
